Each Pride season we celebrate the progress in LGBT+ rights achieved through hard work and campaigning by unions and LGBT+ activists, but while so much progress has been made towards LGBT+ equality, there is always more work to do.
One clear example of this is the fight for a ban on conversion therapy, the appalling and harmful practice that is still permitted across the UK.
According to the British Psychological Society (BPS), conversion therapy - sometimes called "reparative therapy" or "gay cure therapy" - tries to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity.
All major UK therapy professional bodies and the NHS strongly disagree with it on logical, ethical and moral grounds. We all have the right to feel safe, to be ourselves, and to live without shame or fear. But in the UK, conversion therapy is more common than you might think.
The National LGBT Survey 2018 revealed that 7% of LGBT+ individuals have either been offered or undergone conversion therapy. Transgender respondents faced nearly double the likelihood, with 13% having experienced or been offered such ‘therapy’.
In 2018, the then Tory Government, led by former Prime Minister Theresa May, pledged to end conversion therapy. However, nearly seven years later, this promise remains unfulfilled. During this time, both Usdaw and the Labour Party pressured the Conservative Government to commit to a ban, but without success.
In July 2024, after the Labour Party formed a new Government, they committed to publishing a draft bill to ban conversion therapy. This bill aims to implement a comprehensive, trans-inclusive ban on all forms of conversion therapy, recognising it as psychologically damaging abuse.
In Northern Ireland, politicians passed a non-binding motion in April 2021 calling for a ban, and work is continuing on a policy to end conversion practices.
The Welsh Government is seeking legal advice on whether it can bring in its own ban.
In Scotland, a Government consultation into a ban closed in April 2024, and the findings are now being considered.
Usdaw completely supports this call for a ban with no exemptions and no excuses. We want to see urgent action from Government and devolved nations to ban this cruel practice in all its forms, along with properly funded support services for survivors.